


Rising Sun

by Cecilija



Category: DreamWorks Dragons (Cartoon), How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Back to the past, Changing canon storyline, I'm sure that won't bring consequences, Legends, Mystery, Post-RTTE, Time Travel AU, ooooh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-31
Updated: 2017-06-24
Packaged: 2018-11-07 09:29:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11056143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cecilija/pseuds/Cecilija
Summary: After discovering an ancient cave, a dragon that inhabits it is more than uninviting, and it leads to Hiccup receiving a terrible blast from it. This results in great confusion when young Hiccup, still living in a terrorized by dragons Berk, wakes up to realize he wasn't quite the boy he was yesterday, now having his mind full of thoughts that didn't belong to him.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Well hello there. I'll start this with a short note: I've had this idea for so damn long that I can't even remember. I always had a fascination with the whole time-traveling thing in this certain universe and tried searching for stories that even remotely fit the image I had in my head. However, I hadn't come across anything that was similar to what I had imagined (sure, there are plenty of travelling through time stories featuring most commonly Hiccup, but quite different from what I was searching for), so what do you do when you can't find a story that fits your criteria? You write your own, of course. However, I'm not saying I will continue this. Like any other person, I have a million things I want to do, and while writing this story falls in that list, I won't write it if I see that it doesn't interest anyone, and move on to other projects. It's understandable, right? So I ask you one thing: if you wish to continue reading this, please, tell me so! It really depends on you.

To put it shortly, Hiccup was excited. Why wouldn't he be? Dealing with those troublesome dragon hunters these past few months, coping with the loss of the Dragon Eye and Dragon's Edge, not to mention dealing with the guilt of killing Viggo certainly took a toll on him, on all of them actually. They had been doing nothing but fighting, so a simple rescue mission was certainly nice for a change.

''That's it, we're lost.''

It would have been great, though, if the feeling was mutual.

''For the last time, we are not lost, Snotlout,'' Hiccup resisted the urge to roll his eyes, yet allowed annoyance to lace his voice. It had been the fifth time his hotheaded friend had made such a claim, after all. ''We just haven't explored these waters all that much, so it may seem that way.''

''We've been flying for hours and we haven't seen a single island on that map of yours yet!'' Snotlout exclaimed in frustration, throwing one of his hands in the air. ''So how can you know?!''

''I can't believe I'm saying this, but he may be right, Hiccup,'' Fishlegs piped in. ''We should have flown across at least a couple of them by now. Maybe it would be better to turn around for now and try a different path the next day?''

The young lad exhaled a soft sigh. If that idea was gaining approval from the rest of the gang, then perhaps he didn't have a choice.

''Fine, you can all head back, Toothless and I will search for a little bit longer,'' he announced over the wind.

''You don't have to tell me twice,'' Snotlout grunted and turned his dragon around, quickly being followed by the twins with a few comments and a rather hesitant Fishlegs.

''I'll go with you,'' Astrid spoke as she flew a bit closer to their leader.

''Thanks, Astrid, but you really don't have to force yourself if you're tired,'' Hiccup flashed her a small smile.

''We've traveled way further, so this is nothing, right, girl?'' the blonde addressed her beloved dragon while patting on the side of her neck, who in returned chirped happily. ''Besides, who knows in what sort of trouble you'll get yourself into again if I left you alone?''

''Ha ha,'' the rider rolled his eyes at the comment. ''Glad to know you worry.''

''And for good reasons, too,'' Astrid teased her friend-- boyfriend to be exact-- with a light grin.

The pair continued soaring through the bright blue skies for a good couple of hours more until the sun began touching the vast horizon. By that time Hiccup had more or less figured out where on that old map they were, and it appeared that they were still quite a distance from their objective. Not wanting to turn back now and with the night steadily approaching along with stormy clouds slowly but surely drifting their way, the two riders decided to seek shelter on one of the nearby islands.

Their chosen one was relative small and thus almost escaped their view due to all those rocky pillars in this area – not to mention its strange absence from the map –, but after deeming it safe enough, the pair landed. And just in time too, for the dark gray sky broke and heavy raindrops began descending on them. After a quick search along the coastline, Astrid accidentally came across a cave opening, hidden by overgrown bushes. The two didn't debate much on the matter and agreed to wait out the storm and most likely the whole night there. It was almost completely secluded, so they saw no issue.

''Ah, it would be great to have a fire started in here,'' Astrid commented as she rubbed her slightly chilly hands, her eyes dancing around the dark area. Her dragon companion in the mean time decided to lay down by one of the rocky walls. ''But with that rain out there I doubt we'd find any usable firewood.''

''You're right, but maybe we could try searching this cave further,'' Hiccup mused out loud, looking deeper into the rocky tunnel, though with this poor lighting he couldn't make out all that much. ''You stay here, while Toothless and I do a quick search, okay?''

''You want to leave me _again_?''

''We'll be back soon, I promise,'' he smiled at her reassuringly before turning to the curious Night Fury. ''C'mon, bud, follow me.''

Luckily, there was a single stray branch laying around by the entrance, which Hiccup used as a torch to illuminate the darkness of the cavern. Without even being asked, Toothless lighted the dry piece of wood and the pair could venture now deeper. Astrid followed them with her full of worry eyes until the two disappeared. Sighing softly, she leaned against one of the walls and glanced at her companion.

''I guess it's just you and me now, then. How long do you think it will take them to get into some sort of trouble?''

Stormfly cocked her giant head to the side and squeaked, lightly fluttering her wings.

''I give them twenty minutes,'' Astrid nodded, as if she just had a conversation with the dragon. A moment later, a shudder ran down her spine and she once again looked around as her friend cooed a bit worriedly. ''Yeah, you're right, this place seems creepy. I hope they hurry up.''

In the mean time, the adventurous rider with his trusted partner explored the depths of the wider-than-thought cave. The dark tunnels spread across in all directions and Hiccup had to in some way mark the path he was taking in order not to get lost. The further they went, the less optimistic Hiccup was about finding anything fit for a fire, and yet excitement also began surging through his veins. He tremendously enjoyed exploring new areas, after all, well, at least those that didn't get them potentially killed. Nevertheless, there was this strange vibe about this place, and he knew Toothless felt it as well. The Night Fury kept warily glancing around the place, his pupils narrowed more than usually. Hiccup didn't pay much attention to that for awhile, at least until the dragon straight up growled lowly, stopping abruptly. He seemed quite agitated about something, and that set off an alarm in his rider's mind.

''What is it, bud?'' he asked cautiously. ''Do you sense something?''

Toothless looked fixated about a certain passageway, eyeing it with great suspicion. Yep, there was certainly something off with this place if he reacted like that. A dragon's senses are much sharper, after all. So what would Hiccup do? Investigate it, of course.

''This way?'' he motioned the torch towards that tunnel as if asking for confirmation.

Toothless glanced at him as if he had gone crazy and instead gestured with his head back the way they came. Obviously whatever he felt was not pleasant and possibly dangerous. But who was Hiccup to back down?

''Come on, bud, you know I'm still gonna go there, so you might as well give up already,'' the rider tried to reason with dragon in a light tone before beginning to venture down that suspicious path. Toothless behind him could only groan and follow him. He understood perfectly that without him Hiccup would be done for.

The future chief wasn't sure for how long the two walked down that dark passageway. It only kept doing deeper and deeper, and with it its treacherousness increased as well. Not only was it a dangerous path to explore due to the many sharp rocks, steep, strangely slippery steps, serpent-like construction, but the many shadows dancing around from the torch covered any sneaky possible missteps. Hiccup almost fell victim to one of the invisible traps, not noticing the gaping abyss beneath his feet, if not for Toothless' quick reaction. The dragon managed to grab his rider by his vest before the young lad fell to his doom. Unfortunately, due to the sudden force, the torch's fate wasn't as lucky, and so it flew out of Hiccup's hand down the hole, leaving the pair in pitch black darkness.

''Whoa, that was close,'' Hiccup astonished, stumbling back a bit. Quickly, he orientated himself and patted his companion on his head. ''Thanks, bud, you saved me once again. But now we'll have to rely on your hearing to get out of here-- or to be more exact, continue onward,'' he talked as he mounted Toothless, gently nudging him forward. The latter once again growled in displeasure but complied with his rider's wishes nonetheless.

Using his echolocation, Toothless jumped over the hole and continued navigating through the narrow tunnel. Even if complete, heavy darkness surrounded them, rendering Hiccup's vision useless, the man trusted his friend unconditionally and had full confidence in him. Why wouldn't he? Night Furies were practically made to orientate in the dark, being nocturnal creatures and rulers of the night. Nevertheless, at some point Hiccup began wondering how much further would this path take them. By that time he was rather certain they had reached the bottom of the ocean. At least the growing tenseness in Toothless' body and increasing growls in his throat signaled that they were nearing... something. That and his sudden halt.

''Alright, bud, could you give me a low flame?'' Hiccup requested as he carefully lowered himself to the ground. He had to see where they were, after all.

Instead, Toothless shot a single blast somewhere straight into the darkness and, surprisingly, hit what seemed to be a fireplace, instantly illuminating the vast area they had come upon.

''Or that works, too,'' the rider murmured. However, once his eyes adjusted to the sudden light, they widened at what entered his vision.

''Whoa... What is this place?'' he questioned no one in particular, taking a small, cautious step downwards the path.

The area at which they arrived resembled a perfectly circular cave large both in width and height. In the middle laid the now alive and flickering fireplace, surrounded by four rock pillars and a thick circle on top, covered in strange carving, while the walls held multiple torches. Even from this distance Hiccup could perceive the unfamiliar designs which made him believe this place had to be ancient. However, what caught his interest the most was the white scribbling along the furthest part of the wall, almost hauntingly gleaming in the dim lighting. Without hesitating, the lad began making his way towards that discovery, his hands almost unconsciously finding his notebook inside his vest. He could almost physically feel excitement rushing through his veins as he approached their finding.

''Look over here, bud, this is so strange..!'' Hiccup astonished quietly, as if to himself, as he gently went over the writings with the tips of his fingers. ''I can't understand any of this!.. I haven't seen anything like it. It must be ancient!..''

However, Toothless wasn't all that interested in some old writing. Instead, he was more focused on scanning the dark cavern above them with those wary eyes of him. Every sense in his body was screaming at him to leave this place at once, but based on how his rider was immersed in that discovery of theirs, he assumed that wouldn't be possible any time soon.

''I have to write this down,'' Hiccup announced, quickly opening up his notebook and beginning to scribble down the odd words. ''Maybe Dad or someone back at Berk would know something. There is a drawing here, too...''

Indeed, above all that writing laid an equally white painting of what seemed to be a... dragon. Of course, what else could it have been? However, Hiccup had no idea what kind of dragon that could be. He hadn't seen anything even remotely similar to it. And the drawing wasn't all that detailed either, not that it would have helped if it was. Hiccup was certain whatever dragon this was, it had yet to be discovered. And if he put all the pieces together correctly...

''I think I finally understand why you're so suspicious about this place, bud,'' the rider spoke slowly, turning away from the drawing to face his wary companion, who paid no mind to him in order to continue observing the higher ground. ''Whatever this dragon is... This must be its home. Which makes us intruders.''

Toothless growled loudly, finally turning to his friend to see whether he at last regained his senses.

''You're right, we should get out of here, Toothless,'' Hiccup nodded a bit urgently. If this place was still inhabited by that dragon, he had no wish to wait around to discover it. He had a nagging feeling it wouldn't be too friendly, and he'd rather not test the solidity of these walls.

'' _Hiccup! There you are!_ '' Suddenly a voice resonated through the cave and the addressed lad snapped his head in its direction.

''Astrid? What are you doing here?'' he asked with slightly wider that usually eyes as he quickly jogged towards her.

''You were gone for far too long, so naturally I came looking for you,'' she explained as she jumped down from Stormfly, who also seemed quite agitated, squeaking impatiently. ''Though Stormfly didn't seem too keen on venturing down here.''

''Yeah, her and Toothless both,'' Hiccup gestured at his restless companion, who still frantically observed the dark area above them. ''And I think not without reason. Astrid, I'd tell you more, but I have reason to believe we're not so alone here, so we should first leave this place.''

However, before either of them could make a move, Toothless suddenly bellowed aggressively and shot a powerful blast somewhere into the cavern above them, causing some rocks to fall down and the place to shake. Naturally, that shocked the pair of riders, but they didn't have the time to dwell on it before horrible screech resonated across the whole cavern, forcing the humans to instinctively cover their ears. If that wasn't a sign to immediately get out of there, they didn't know what was. Never had they heard anything remotely similar, and it did not sound pleased.

''Alright, time to leave, _now_!'' Hiccup yelled over the horrible noise and was about to run towards his agitated dragon, however, with the corner of his eye he caught a flash of green somewhere above them, and horrifying realization dawned upon him that it was not aimed at _him._

'' _Astrid!_ '' he exclaimed loudly and without a second thought immediately dashed towards her, who had yet to see in what sort of danger she was.

The last thing Hiccup remembered was a bright light, agonizing pain in his chest and a terrible scream of his name.

.

..

…

….

…..

_With a loud gasp, the young boy woke up._

 


	2. Chapter 1

As Hiccup stared into the darkness of his room, he tried to calm his wildly beating heart and control his panting. A heavy ache pounded into his head, and the boy instinctively gripped the side of it, a quiet hiss of pain escaping his parted lips. He was rather certain that even if his room wouldn't had been enveloped in the night's cloak, he would nevertheless see darkness. His hold on the rough blanket tightened as he began taking deep breaths.

_What... was that?_

Hiccup was certain he had a dream. A  _wild_ dream at that. Perhaps even a nightmare. However, no matter how hard he tried, no clear images came to his mind. Everything was a complete blur, including that blinding light at the end. But even if it was just a dream, why were there such consequences? Why was his heart pounding at such a rate as if he had just ran a marathon, why did it seem as if his head would split at any moment? Sure, nightmares could give you quite the fright, but usually you would remember it, and it wasn't as if Hiccup had a lot of those.

After awhile he decided it was useless dwelling on this strange phenomenon. It was a mere dream, with no real meaning. What concerned Hiccup more what that awful headache. Perhaps he should try sleeping it off, though after that night's experience the boy doubted he could drift off again. And besides, it seemed that dawn was finally breaking, the Sun's first gentle orange rays beginning to reach Berk. It wouldn't be long before the village would once again come alive, so there was no point in attempting to rest more.

Perhaps a walk in the morning's fresh air would chase away that pain.

With that thought, Hiccup pushed the blanket away and lowered his legs to the ground. However, he didn't manage to take a single step before he suddenly stumbled and only due to his quick reaction did he not hit the ground painfully but instead caught himself on the counter's side. Well that was strange. Could he perhaps be sick or something? While he wasn't the strongest of Vikings, quite the opposite actually, he could at least stand on his feet. Maybe this had something to do with his strange state this morning? That was a very likely possibility, though the exact reason was still completely unclear.

But still... The boy lifted his left leg slightly and trampled the ground a couple of times. Good as ever, functioning normally. He furrowed his brows. So why...

Shaking his head, Hiccup decided to not ponder about this anymore. It was no use, after all. He only needed to walk this odd feeling off. So what if this wasn't the best of mornings? He couldn't let that hinder his whole day.

And what a day it proved to be.

*.*.*

Dragons, dragons, dragons.

They just couldn't give them a break, could they?

_No._

_What?_

Hiccup once again almost stumbled on his feet in surprise and nearly ran into a burning pillar. Alright, now was certainly not the best time to allow his thoughts to drift. However, it seemed that as this accursed day progressed, the more his mind jumbled and twisted strangely. At times he could hardly understand what exactly he was feeling or thinking for that matter. As if some sort of veil had landed upon his mind, depraving the boy of his ability to comprehend what exactly was going on inside of him. Not to mention that forsaken headache that refused to leave no matter what. At one point Hiccup pondered if he should visit Gothi regarding this strange pain, but in the end decided against it. What would he tell her? Everything was completely fine with his body apart from that pounding aching. Besides, with time it slightly dulled, so Hiccup convinced himself it would fade away by itself eventually.

But alas, again, now was  _certainly_ not the time to muse about such petty matters. The village was,  _once again_ , under a raid, and the timing couldn't have been more perfect. Both sarcastically and not. Hiccup's current goal was to safely, or at least gravely unharmed, make his way to the forge. Easier said than done with all those crazy vikings running around and all those  _marvelous_ dragons spewing fire and grabbing everything worthy they laid their eyes upon. Luckily, Hiccup was, well, a hiccup, so he didn't appear too appetizing, which gave him an advantage in this sort of field. And soon enough the wonderful structure of the forge entered his view and Hiccup almost sighed in relief. In the midst of battle, the clinking of hot metal, the sweet sound of an axe or a sword in the process of sharpening and the warmth of burning coal seemed almost soothing.

Soothing, but strangely... unfamiliar. Foreign.

There he goes again, he had to get his mind out of the clouds.

Long story short, after several sarcastic remarks from both Gobber and himself to each other, yet another argument regarding his inventions – which somehow led him to getting a nagging feeling there was a mild calibration issue with his newest creation, good thing he decided to check before accidentally hurting someone – and one in many speeches regarding what a terrible Viking he was  _(yes, thank you, Gobber, you manage to uplift my spirits as marvelously as ever)_ , the blacksmith decided he should join the wild party to help his fellow Vikings in taming those main guests, or in other words, pop a few dragons' heads off. But honestly, did Gobber truly believe Hiccup would listen to his orders and not venture out in the hopes of finally making the  _correct_ mark? Perhaps he merely hoped for once the problematic boy would stay out of trouble and give them all a break. Maybe such a day would indeed at some point come  _(what a joyous occasion that would be for Dad)_ , but today was not that day. And so, the young inventor, as quickly as possible, grabbed his proud creation that lent him greater strength than any Viking held, and set off to find a safe spot to try and shoot down a dragon, mainly the one that would bring him the most glory. Because oh boy did he lack that.

Fortunately, Hiccup managed to reach a quiet secluded area unharmed. There were a few close calls, but in the end the boy could safely set up his invention. However, he had to hurry. It wouldn't take long for someone – mainly Gobber or his father – to notice his absence. Then they would either run searching for him or make the assumption he had become a toothpick for some wild dragon. The villagers held great confidence in Hiccup, after all.

Well, not for long. Once he killed his first dragon, everything would change. He would no longer be Hiccup the Useless, no, he would prove to everyone that he was worthy enough to stand with them as an equal, that he could make his father proud at least once in his lifetime and that he could conquer dragons just as greatly as any other Viking-

Hiccup's hands suddenly froze in the midst of setting up his Mangler cannon. And he couldn't understand why exactly. Such a strange feeling abruptly washed over him as the thought of conquering – killing in other words – dragons entered his mind, something heavy and thick filled his pores, almost suffocating, something akin to... aversion. For a brief moment, for a single beat of his heart, Hiccup felt resentment towards the very idea, towards his wish to present a dragon's heart to his father and  _finally_ earn appreciation from his fellow Vikings as a result of his  _courageous_  act, towards the desire to be one of them- Towards everything Berk stood for.

However, quickly Hiccup shook such a ridiculous thought –  _or perhaps it was better to describe it as a feeling –_  out of his head. Of course this was what he wanted. Of course this was his greatest wish, to finally earn his rightful place as his father's heir, to  _at last_ make him proud and not regard him as a screw up, as a  _talking fish bone_ as Hiccup liked to put it. And if slaying a dragon was the way to accomplish that goal, then so be it.

Now all he needed was something to shoot at.

The sky that night was a true beauty. Not a single cloud covered the thousands of glistening stars, as if Thor himself had hammered hundreds of silver nails into the gorgeous black dome. And with all that fiery fight taking place far from Hiccup, the atmosphere was almost tranquil. He was sure that if this had been any other night, he would be resting at some cliff away from his village and simply gazing into the wonderful sky, enjoying the peace and losing himself in its beauty, allowing the gentle, albeit slightly chilly breeze to wash away his worries and troubles, leaving him with nothing but himself and the night. However, it was not such a day. No, Hiccup had a specific goal and he couldn't allow his mind to waver to such at the moment trivial thoughts. He was not alone this terribly early morning. The King of night was soaring through its dome, and only an occasional spot of absence of light was an indicator of its position. Hiccup was praying to all gods his luck would not fail him this time. He had been living a harsh live, could they at least cut him some slack  _this one single time_?

And there it went again. Just as he had hoped, the infamous Night Fury hit the wooden structure near him and his black body flashed across the sky. Hiccup wouldn't get this sort of chance again. Instinctively, he shut his eyes and fired in the general direction the dragon flew to.

To hit a Night Fury... What an accomplishment that would be. No Viking before had ever slayed one. And if Hiccup became the first... No one would dare to call him  _useless_ or  _unworthy_ ever again. To shoot down the most notorious dragon they had ever seen, to remove the most vicious threat they faced, to conquer the one beast even the Book of Dragons held no information about, to kill... to kill... to kill Too-

Just for a single blink of an eye Hiccup hesitated, just for a mere beat his hand wavered on the trigger, just a centimeter his body moved to the side as if on instinct. The shot fired, yes, and Hiccup heard the terrible screech of the creature it had it. With wide, unbelieving eyes the boy watched as a black figure sank through the sky and disappeared into the thick woods, a distant crash sound reaching his ears. He had hit his target.

Hiccup should have been overjoyed. He should have been leaping from accomplishment with a grin on his lips. He should have been racing back to the village – to his father – to tell them all about his success. He had done an unimaginable thing, after all. He should have been happy.

And yet, Hiccup's eyes never left the spot the creature crashed to, his whole body frozen. He had accomplished his task, yes, and yet, he felt no delight. The night wasn't quiet. Distant screeches, almost inaudible from such a distance, filled with agony and  _fright?_ reached him, and it made his blood run cold, his throat to dry out, his heart to skip beats.

And as horrible dread filled him, Hiccup held no desire to retreat back to his people – instead, he felt the strangest pull towards the woods.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should mention that I'm in love with the whole concept of the Butterfly Effect. And that's basically what this story will revolve around. In other chapters I will change the point of view to various of different characters, so we won't only see the situation from past Hiccup's perspective. We'll also get to see how the changing of past will effect the future, so ya.
> 
> Okay, so for the explanation. I'll try to to give away too much with it, just to make some points clear. I hope you understood what happened here, right?.. If not, I'm sorry, it's my fault for being too unclear. Anyway, I'll explain it nonetheless. Basically, future Hiccup's consciousness (in other Time Travel AUs future Hiccup gets transported to the past physically, which is not the concept I was looking for as I've mentioned in the previous chapter's note) gets "shoved in" next to past Hiccup's consciousness, so you kinda get two people inside one body (similar to DID, which I'm also very interested in :')) ). However, at the moment, past Hiccup is, obviously, the utterly dominant one, so no clear thought from future Hiccup (god, I dread the day I will need to come up with better names for these two...) can reach him. NOTE THE 'AT THE MOMENT' PART. Nevertheless, there are things stronger than rational thoughts: feelings! (surprise surprise). And so, they can affect past Hiccup, thus we get this chapter and its ending. Don't worry, this won't be the case for long, both Hiccups are very strong, after all, so no way can one be completely shoved to the side :)) And oh boy can't I wait to write from his perspective...


	3. Chapter 2

By some wild luck, the harsh storm had calmed by the time they all made it out of that cave. The dark clouds had cleared a bit, allowing cold moonlight to seep through them and guide the unfortunate dragon rider. The fact that this was quite the uncharted territory in the middle of the night didn't help one bit, but that didn't prevent the young lass from rushing through the sky with determination.

_'Faster, faster...'_ she kept repeating in her head, however, she kept such thoughts to herself. She was well aware they couldn't possibly travel faster, so such wishes were merely her paranoia speaking.

The dragon below her groaned softly once more and turned his head as much as possible to glance at the two humans on his back for the nth time since they took off. Near him, the woman's companion also squeaked quietly, almost frighteningly, as she observed the two riders. The atmosphere was clear enough for any animal to perceive, after all.

Astrid managed to curl her lips into a shaky, albeit reassuring smile as she gently patted the clearly anxious dragon, whose green eyes portrayed nothing but worry.

''Everything will be okay, boy,'' she spoke as confidently as possible, though it was unclear who she was trying to convince more. ''We'll take him back to Gothi and she'll know what to do. He can't be hurt that bad, after all...''

However, the thing was, Astrid couldn't possibly know. She kept telling herself that it would be fine, that her friend was clearly alive, she could almost feel his beating heart due to how close and tightly she held him to herself. But she couldn't know how  _badly_ he was hurt. The dragon that hit him... They knew nothing about it, she was certain. And judging by how their own dragons reacted, it wasn't the most harmless of beasts. Luckily, they managed to escape it before anyone else got harmed, but the fact remained that their leader received a full blast from an unknown and possibly dangerous dragon. If it had been almost any other, the lad would had surely been killed. There was simply... so much mystery that Astrid decided to try not to fathom about it for now. She had a much more important task at her hands â€“ bringing Hiccup back to Berk as quickly as possible.

///////////

The young boy wasn't sure what had caused such a reaction exactly, was it that sudden return of that awful headache or was it his previous strange shock due to his _accomplishment_ or gods know what by this point, but the fact remained: he should have behaved differently.

Who in their sane mind wouldn't run when a rather pissed dragon suddenly decided they would be a tasty snack?

However, Hiccup simply froze when he realized a Monstrous Nightmare had sneaked up behind him, growling menacingly with clear intentions. The terrifying beast narrowed its gleaming eyes at the scrawny teen, perhaps for a moment pondering whether he was even worth its time, while Hiccup could only listen to his wild heartbeat and pray for his legs to wake up. Why wasn't he running for his life? Why wasn't he screaming for help? Any moment now the dragon could pounce on him and devour him whole, and that certainly would have happened if Hiccup's lack of reaction wouldn't have confused the beast. For a couple of seemingly endless seconds the dragon simply stared at him, growling lowly, slowly creeping closer, waiting for any sort of move from the human, and yet there was none. At that point Hiccup realized trying to flee would be useless. There was no one around and that Monstrous Nightmare was close enough to bite his head off in a single beat if the teen as much as made the thought of running. Hiccup was completely and utterly doomed, it was merely a matter of time before the dragon grew bored of his strange lack of motion and just roasted him already. It probably simply wasn't used to seeing such weak-looking humans, so perhaps it was deciding whether he wouldn't poison it or something.

_Great,_ Hiccup thought miserably,  _even a dragon thinks I'm defected._

Not worth its time. Not dangerous.

Not a threat.

Hold on a minute, maybe this could actually work.

This may be the craziest idea Hiccup had had yet, but it was die or at least try not to die.

''H-Hey there, big fella,'' the boy tried speaking with that terribly shaking voice of his, swallowing as much as he could to at least somewhat moisten his horribly dried out throat as he slowly lifted his hands up in a defensive manner. The dragon grew much more wary at that, his growling increasing, and yet Hiccup was still alive. ''It's o-okay, I'm not gonna hurt you.''

Yes, Hiccup had certainly gone crazy. Well, he  _did_ say the truth. There was no way he could possibly pose any threat to that beast, so what was the point of telling the obvious? And what made him think the dragon would understand him?!

However, it seemed Hiccup's behavior had peaked the beast's interest. Instead of snapping his head off right then and there, it lowered its own a bit, keeping those eyes narrowed but decreasing the volume of its growling. The boy could have sworn the dragon looked almost curious. Perhaps it was, given how odd its victim was acting. No weapon in hand or anywhere near, body resembling a toothpick more than anything, so not a threat in that department as well, and the foolish viking wasn't even trying to run away! Instead, Hiccup was praying to all gods he knew, too scared to breathe of even blink. Maybe, _just maybe_ , he could stall this beast long enough for someone to come to his rescue, hopefully. It would be rather humiliating for any viking, but no one would find it odd that Hiccup someone managed to tangle himself into this sort of situation. The lad wasn't sure how he should feel about that.

Surprisingly, somehow, amidst all that panic, fear and confusion, a single stray thought managed to brew in the back of Hiccup's mind â€“ while this dragon was showing signs of hostility, he hadn't yet attacked the boy, and the only reasonable explanation for that would be the fact that Hiccup wasn't acting like anyone would anticipate a human would act in the face of such grave danger. He wasn't showing any aggressiveness, on the contrary, presenting himself as not a threat, and the beast reacted to it by not killing him, but rather observing him closer. This could potentially mean these monsters may not be the mindless killing machines everyone thought them to be, but actually hold some form of intellect.

Hiccup decided to ponder on that certain idea at a later time, since a large hammer suddenly appeared out of nowhere and hit the dragon to the skull.

The beast screeched terribly and swung its head in the direction of the assault. A bulky viking was quickly approaching the pair, a murderous look on his face, hands clenched to fists, and Hiccup doubted he ever in his life felt this glad to see his father.

For a split second the dragon looked as if he was a beat away from blasting fire at his new target, but in the last moment suddenly changed his mind, threw Hiccup a dirty glare, and without warning took off, away from their village and island. Not only this one, but with a quick look to the sky the boy noticed that all of the dragons decided to retreat and finally end their raid.

Well, at least that was over with.

Nevertheless, now that he was in no immediate danger, Hiccup felt how weakness hit his knees and it took all his strength to not tumble down. Finally, he could take and exhale a deep breath of relief, granting his mind its much needed air, for black dots had begun dancing in his vision and he felt rather lightheaded. _Great,_ add _that_ to his headache, and if he wasn't feeling so before, now Hiccup certainly felt _marvelous._

''Hiccup!'' Stoick's shout brought his attention back to the real world and the lad realized the man had been shaking him on the shoulders. ''Are you alright?''

''Ah, um, yeah,'' Hiccup stumbled a bit on his words, but managed to answer the other anyway, blinking a few times and shaking his head. ''Yeah, I'm, uh, fine, just a bit... yeah. I'm okay, I think.''

''For the love of Thor, Hiccup, what were you thinking?!'' his father exclaimed, releasing his son. Even if he mainly sounded angry, worry was also quite clearly evident in his voice. ''Why were you just standing there, that beast was about to kill you!''

_Yet it didn't,_ Hiccup wanted to murmur, but kept his mouth shut. He was still quite dazed by that little fact.

''And why are you out here anyway?!'' Stoick continued his rant, not waiting for the young lad to answer his previous question. ''I told you to stay out of this mess! Why can't you just listen for once?!''

''I'm sorry, I just wanted to help finally, and I-I did, I-...''

_...won't believe..._

_That_ made Hiccup pause and momentarily forget what he was about to say. Right, he wanted to tell his father he  _finally_ achieved something, that he finally took down a dragon, but that sudden thought stopped him in his tracks. And honestly? It was right. Why  _would_ Stoick believe him? Of course he would just write his son off as always, because there was  _no way_ Hiccup could actually do something  _worthwhile_ or productive. Forget about taking down a dragon! Even to himself, the mere idea seemed bizarre, his father would  _certainly_ disregard him. No, Hiccup was on his own here, like always. He would need to find another way to make his dad believe him.

''What you  _did_ was almost get yourself killed,'' Stoick snapped, but otherwise didn't seem as furious as before. He heaved a deep sigh and rubbed the bridge of his nose. ''Well, at least you didn't cause too much damage. For once. Head back inside now, I have some things to take care of.''

Hiccup was about to comply without any protest (at least that was how it would have looked like to Stoick) but suddenly a strange, very odd actually thought struck him, and the words left his mouth before he even realized it.

''Di-Did you catch any dragons?''

The man seemed a bit taken aback for a moment, but quickly seriousness once again crept back to his eyes.

''Aye, a couple of Nadders took the sheep as bait, should take care of them soon,'' he informed the younger viking and began walking away. ''Now go.''

For some inexplicable reason a wave of nausea washed over Hiccup at those words and he could even feel sickness rising up his throat. Swiftly, he clasped his slightly shaking hand over his mouth to prevent himself from throwing up. Now that certainly was strange. The boy couldn't detect a single reason why he was suddenly covered in cold sweat, a nasty, chilling sensation eating him alive, creeping up his spine, doubling up with that awful headache from before. Perhaps he really was sick and he  _should_ see Gothi, but what was troubling him more than his condition was the strong feeling that came along with it â€“  _guilt._

_*.*.*_

_Of course_ Hiccup wasn't going to wait around for his father to come back. On the contrary, he hoped he would be back from his little trip before Stoick noticed he was missing. Well, Hiccup prayed he would be back  _at all_ , and some unfortunate man wouldn't stumble upon his charred or dismembered corpse after his failed attempt at venturing into the woods alone. But no need to harbor such pessimistic thoughts. Really, where did that take anyone?

Probably not to death, at least.

Well, there was no turning back now. Hiccup had all that he needed â€“ his journal, a pencil and his trusty knife â€“ to head on a journey to find his shot dragon.

...Now that he thought about it, it would probably be quite difficult to kill any beasts with that puny weapon of his.

Hiccup hoped it wouldn't come to that. Ah, it would be  _splendid_ if the dragon he shot down would already be dead.

A faint painful throb suddenly struck him and the boy only blinked and shook his head at the strange phenomenon. Really, the oddness didn't seem to hold any wishes of leaving him alone.

No matter, Hiccup had more important business to worry about.

Like that clearly recently broken tree and that obvious path of rumble and dirt right next to him.

Okay, perhaps he should begin paying more attention to his surroundings. He almost missed that.

Cautiously, Hiccup took out his knife and slowly began following the path of destruction. Whatever crashed here, certainly  _crashed,_ the boy would honestly be surprised if anything had survived such a terrible fall. It looked far too deadly and the mere thought of witnessing what had happened here sent shivers down Hiccup's spine.

However, the lad was quickly pulled out of his thoughts when he finally reached the end of the trail and the view made him freeze in his tracks, a quiet gasp leaving his lips, his eyes widening.

There it was, laying in all its glory, Hiccup's first  _achievement._

Its wings, legs, and all its body was tangled up in ropes, which bonded the creature gruesomely, rendering it completely immobile. From this far Hiccup couldn't tell whether it was only unconscious or life had already left it. What he _could_ tell, though, was that his heart was suddenly pounding against his chest at an abnormal rate, his lungs refused to function, he almost _chocked_ on the air he was trying to inhale, and it felt as if his head was about to split open. Actually, that last part was quite agonizing, and for a moment the boy forgot his situation and only gripped the side of it, hissing quietly in pain. _For the love of Thor,_ what was wrong with him? Why was he in so much pain and why was _dread_ of all emotions tearing his heart away?

After finally managing to take a couple of deep breaths and _finally_ somehow getting that aching at least partly under control, Hiccup focused on the more important matters at hand.

Which came in the form of a shot down Night Fury.

It would probably be wise to check whether it was still alive before trying anything.

After a couple of more moments, though, this was still a lot to comprehend.

Carefully, Hiccup began approaching the laying dragon, the knife in his hand being held tightly, his senses as sharp as never before. He observed the motionless creature warily, looking for any signs of hostility or _anything_ really. When noticing none, Hiccup couldn't help but feel his shoulders slightly relax.

''Did I... Did I really did it?'' he murmured to himself in awe.

Honestly, he had never been this close to a dragon before. An immobile dragon at least, he did have a few close calls in the past. And now that he had the chance to observe this beast from such a small proximity... Hiccup couldn't help but feel fascination flood him, and slowly he began extending his hand towards its motionless body, his mind overtaken by sheer wonder and the _idea_ of touching such a mystical creature, something never-before seen, something never-before done.

However, just as his fingertips grazed the unexpectedly smooth dark scales, the dragon suddenly jolted with a grunt, and Hiccup immediately shot back in panic, tumbling over himself and falling down. Alright, so the dragon _was_ alive, after all. That certainly gave him a fright. But after a couple of moments of composing himself and shoving down that inexplicable feeling of relief, the boy once again rose to his feet.

The dragon had opened his eyes. And now it was staring at the frightened lad with those awfully narrowed pupils, that wary, pained and... strangely exhausted gaze pierced into Hiccup's skull. It made no attempt to move, no attempt to break free, just... simply looked at the small viking, laying limp as before, and only its shaky breathing was evidence of its great distress. It was odd, though. Why wouldn't it try to entangle itself from its bindings? Perhaps it had already given up or... it was simply in too much pain as it was. That was also an option, and once again it sent an agonizing pang to Hiccup's chest.

In complete silence the boy crept closer to the creature, never breaking eye-contact, observing it closer. Yeah, the dragon was certainly in agony and it probably did indeed give up by this point. It no longer mattered that it was a great beast, feared by all vikings, rumored to be the most fiercest dragon of them all, and Hiccup was the weakest of his tribe, an outcast, a scrawny fish-bone. The creature was completely vulnerable, exposed to the world, and that Useless viking held a knife. Even to an idiot it was obvious who was in control here.

Or perhaps it wasn't. Perhaps it never was.

More than anything, Hiccup wished to prove himself. To be worthy. He had gone over this thought a million times already. He knew what needed to be done in order to achieve his goal.

And yet, as he stared at those green giant eyes, full of despair, hopelessness, pain, exhaustion, and as he felt all those contradicting feelings swirl inside of him, clash against his mind and heart, as his thoughts tumbled against one another, jumbled up together, pounded into his head-- Hiccup didn't know what to do. He even forgot what he was _needed_ to do. He only wanted to scream.

For a few moments the boy was certain this whole mess inside of him would drive him insane, but suddenly, just like that-- it was gone. Blank. Hiccup almost jolted back from surprise.

There was nothing left besides the loud beating of his heart.

Even that headache seemed to subside.

And strangely enough, never before had Hiccup felt such great responsibility weight on his shoulders.

_He was allowed to make the call._

.

..

â€¦

Hiccup had _certainly_ gone crazy, because instead of piercing his knife through the creature's heart, he quickly began cutting through the ropes binding said beast. Obviously, the dragon was no less surprised at this act than Hiccup himself, but _for some reason_ he didn't stop nor did he feel any regret pooling up. On the contrary, with each fallen rope, some imaginary rocks tumbled down from his heart and it was becoming more and more easy to breathe. He just needed to be _fast_ before anyone spotted him committing just a treacherous act.

_Right, lets just throw all principles and everything I have ever hoped for out the window, why not, this seems like a fantastic idea--_

However, quite unsurprisingly honestly, he was suddenly brought out of his thoughts when the dragon felt its restrains drop and without any warning lunged at the young lad. Needless to say, fear and panic spread inside of him momentarily.

_Like that last encounter wasn't enough of a warning, no, I really want to get myself killed today, and joy oh joy it seems I will finally achieve that--_

Why on _Earth_ did Hiccup think this would be a good idea?

Did he really not expect for it to blow up in his face?

Quite literally?!

This dragon looks more than a little pissed, since _somehow_ it probably has a vague feeling that the one who actually caused all this damage to it was this worthless toothpick right here, and Hiccup doesn't exactly expect to be let off the hook that easily.

No, in fact, the boy couldn't see any other outcome of this situation besides getting his head blown off.

_Well,_ he thought miserably,  _at least my death will be more noteworthy than my life._

Getting killed by a Night Fury is quite the achievement if you think about it.

...But that dragon only shoved him against the ground roughly, barked right in his face, sent him the most nastiest glare imaginable and just... ran off in a different direction. Not even _flew_ off, though it did seem to try, fruitlessly. Soon enough, the creature was gone from sight and only distant screeches reaches Hiccup's ears. Those, too, after awhile faded away.

The lad didn't know whether to laugh or cry or faint or all at the same time.

Even if the beast hadn't bitten his head off, Hiccup still felt quite dead.

And it took him a good minute to snap out of his daze.

When he did, he wanted nothing more than to retreat back to the safety of his house and refuse to go out for at least a few weeks, because, _damn,_ he had enough excitement and scare for the rest of his life, thank you. He held no wish to repeat that same experience or try his absurd luck again.

However... Hiccup was going to hate himself for this later, he was certain of it, but he couldn't deny that his curiosity was _certainly_ peaked. He had no idea from where he even had enough energy or courage or _anything_ really left after _that_ encounter, but he felt the strangest desire to follow that creature. The way it moved was much too... odd, unnatural. He knew he wouldn't be able to rest if he didn't find out the issue. Or just simply the reason why he was still alive.

Nevertheless, Hiccup decided to wait a good while and see whether this sudden insanity would wear off eventually, because what he had in mind was straight-up a _suicidal mission._ He was far too lucky that the dragon let him _live,_ and now he wanted to _follow_ it?

Yep, Hiccup was absolutely sure now â€“ he had lost his mind.

But seeing as how that desire didn't seem to fade away with that, the boy decided to follow his instinct.

Well, the stronger one, at least. He still felt that urge to run away from there as quickly as possible, but for the moment Hiccup dismissed that obviously sane wish.

So after a few attempts, the young viking managed to get to his feet and more or less chase away that spinning sensation. After taking a few calming breaths, he tucked away his knife and began following the rather visible trail left by the injured dragon.

Because now that his mind was clearer, Hiccup was rather certain the creature had suffered some sort of damage. He just didn't know the greatness of it. Yet.

â€¦

Finding his target wasn't as hard as Hiccup had initially thought it would be. It turned out the dragon had somehow gotten itself trapped in an awfully convenient cove, and now had no way of escaping it. Upon closer inspection, which in other words meant Hiccup got as close to the edge as his wildly beating heart allowed him, he understood why the dragon was stuck to the ground, not even trying to fly out of the cove anymore, looking quite miserable actually as it tried to, in complete vain, catch some fish.

The dragon had lost its left tail-fin â€“ and as if that wasn't enough, it also suffered a broken wing.

  
  


Oh _how much_ he screwed up Hiccup wasn't even aware of at that moment.

 

**Author's Note:**

> While I do understand that this whole thing seems very unclear right now, this is how I like my prologues: mystifying and full of unanswered questions. And if this caught your interest, please, do tell me so, it would mean a lot :)))


End file.
